A/N: Greetings and salutations. Here we are at the third chapter of a story that started as one shot and managed to become something bigger. In any case, if you're still reading this wonderful fic thank you so much. I really am proud of this chapter because, well, I think it shows how I'm getting better as a writer. This fic is rather short for what I normally do and that's because the next chapter will be really long. As always, thanks to my Beta and my assistant Will, for inspiring the story. Enough of me, get to the good stuff.

Story of a Dead Man

January 3, 1945

Persephone cocked her head side ways in a quizzical manner as she glanced at her step-son. Her eyes shifted around the darkness that lay before her and she couldn't help but to shiver. Decker's mind was almost as cold as the Underworld. While it was true that she hated almost every demigod child of Hades that was ever born (or demigods in general for that matter) she felt a soft spot in her heart for Decker. It might've been the fact that she helped raise him from infancy or it could've been because she knew how hard Hades was on him — whatever the reason he was her favorite step-child. The confines of Decker's mind began to shift and the two were soon standing in an all gray marble hall that resembled one of the corridors in Hades' palace. Decker leaned back against the wall before exhaling a cold breath. "Why did you bring me here?"

Persephone shrugged her shoulders before taking a seat on the throne of vines that had sprouted out of the ground. "I want to know the real reason why you left the army."

He rolled his eyes. "We've been over this — living the life of a military dog wasn't for me."

"Bullshit," his step-mother spat. "You were raised to live that type of life. It's all you know."

Decker opened his mouth and quickly bit his tongue because he knew in his heart that she was right. Hades had him trained under some of the most aggressive fighters ever to walk the Earth. People like Mark Anthony and the Amazon Queen Otreta were regulars in the house of Hades. He shifted his eyes away from Persephone and locked onto a tree that was sprouting rubies — anything was better than meeting the gaze of his step-mother.

"Is it because you don't feel like you can live up to his expectations?" the goddess asked quietly.

"That's the last thing I'm worried about." Decker countered. "I've met all of his expectations. Thousands of demigods have died by my hands and it's all been for him."

"Then what is it? You've earned his respect; what else could their possibly be?"

He slammed his hand against the back wall. "It has nothing to do with my father; I couldn't care less about what he thinks of me. Now what history has to say about me is a different story."

Her brow arched up. "What do you mean 'history'?"

"Have you ever read any of the Greek myths? There has never been a story about a child of Hades that has ever been positive — we're either overlooked or evil."

Persephone waved her hand as if telling him to continue.

"I want them to write something positive about me when I die and right now all I can see is 'Decker Ingram, he killed lots of people. The end.'"

Now it was all making sense to her. Decker was afraid of not being remembered — not having anything that set him apart from all the other children of Hades that had been born and tossed aside by history. That was the real reason he left the army, because he didn't want to be remembered as a murderer. "What are you planning on doing to erase your sins?"

He snickered. "I could give a damn about my sins. There isn't a doubt in my mind that I'll have to suffer in the Fields of Punishment and I've accepted that. However, I don't want anyone that comes after me to have to pay for what I've done."

A portal composed of shadows appeared behind him.

"This'll probably be the last time I see you, so, I suppose I should say thanks for everything you've done."

With that being said he turned from his step-mom and headed back towards consciousness. He had been running away for so long that actually walking into one of his problems felt good — he could feel Persephone's eyes cutting through him like hot knives through butter as he stepped the portal. The last thing that he heard her say as he vanished into the shadows was "Good luck."

Decker's eyes shot open and he tried to remember where in the name of holy Hades he was. His eyes glanced around and the one thing that instantly stood out to him was the large silver wolf that was glaring him down — that's when it all came rushing back to him. He was being held captive in the camp of Artemis and her somewhat delusional hunters. That helped him realize that he was in deep shit — the hunters were not some of his biggest fans. It might've had something to do with the fact that he tried killing a good number of them a few years ago in Russia or it could've just been because he was a boy.

"Seems like you're finally awake," a voice said from the shadows. Decker glared in the direction from which the voice came because the harsh tone was all too familiar.

"Nice to see you again, Nightshade. I thought after our last meeting in Russia that you might've died."

The daughter of Atlas snarled and slapped Decker so hard he almost forgot his name. She turned away from him before pacing around the tent. Decker could tell from the look in her eyes that she was having a really hard time trying not to kill him — Artemis must've given specific orders to keep him alive.

"Where is Artemis? Shouldn't she be here passing judgment on me?"

Zoë lashed out again and punched him in the face. For some strange reason she didn't like the way he said the name of her mistresses and decided that was a good enough reason to attack him. The son of Hades on the other hand felt as if her actions were highly barbaric and had to bite his tongue to keep from saying anything that would've got him hit again. Instead of talking back he started trying to find a decent means of escape — he tried summoning a shadow but found that only drained him of the little energy he had left.

"Seems like your last run in with Marcus took a lot out of you," Zoë said smugly.

Decker's browed arched up. "That almost sounded compassionate; please tell me that you're not going soft."

Zoë didn't respond. Instead she slammed her fist into the ground (and left a nice sized hole) before heading out of the tent. She figured it would be best to leave Decker alone with the wolves — maybe they'd get hungry and start taking bites out of him. To be honest she wasn't really worried about him trying to escape — his energy was gone and there was no way in Artemis's great name that he could outrun all of the hunters at once. All she had to do was keep him trapped until her mistress came back from Olympus to get rid of him once and for all.

Decker hated feeling as if he had been backed into a corner — his mind began wandering back to when he was a young child and the one thing he did whenever he felt anxious. He closed his eyes tight and exhaled quietly. "Help me father."

At first there was nothing, no sign that his father would help and honestly Decker wouldn't have blamed him. After all he was disobeying Hades's orders and would probably be considered the first traitor to the house of Hades. However, that didn't stop a large black pillar from erupting out of the ground and breaking through the tent above Decker's head. The son of Hades would've been surprised by the act had it not been for the vines that were intertwined with the large rock (had he mentioned how much he loved his step-mom?). Lying at the base of the stalagmite was Decker's sword, his revolver, and a piece of ambrosia pie.

Once he devoured the ambrosia and broke free of his binds, he placed his sword on his hip and made sure his revolver was loaded. He could hear the hunters screaming from outside the broken tent and knew for a fact that they would be hard to escape from. Of course that didn't stop him rushing out of the tent with a large grin on his face — he could see the moon shining high within the sky which meant that the night was still young.

"Stop him immediately!" barked Zoë Nightshade. She was firing arrows as fast as she could summon them — she wasn't going to let Decker get away even if it meant she had to break both of his legs with her bare hands. Decker ducked an arrow that was heading in his direction before raising his revolver and firing a shot at one of the hunters. The poor girl didn't have a chance as the bullet flew through her leg and sent her falling to the ground — all of the hunters stood as silence when their comrade fell. One of the girls, Phoebe, drew her sword and charged Decker with a growl.

If there was one thing that Decker loved about being a son of Hades it was how easy controlling shadows were at night — a shadowy tendril shot out of the ground and coiled around Phoebe's leg. With a snap of Decker's fingers she got slammed face first into the ground.

"How dare thee!" Zoë screeched as she charged him. There was no more waiting for Artemis — she was going to kill this undead son-of-a-bitch once and for all. She pulled her sword backwards and sent the tip straight towards Decker's throat. Shadows solidified in front of the son of Hades and stopped the attack cold. Decker raised his revolver before pointing it at Zoë's forehead. "If anyone gets a step closer I'm blowing her brains out."

All the hunters stopped moving. "Lower all your weapons to the ground."

His demands were met instantly. All of Zoë's comrades dropped their bows and took a few steps back to give Decker room to move. Decker began taking slow steps forward and probably would've made it safely had it not been for the silver chariot that zoomed over his head. The last time Decker saw Artemis was back in Russia — he really wasn't in the mood to fight a deity (especially not the goddess of the moon in the middle of the night) so running was his only option. He pushed Zoë Nightshade to the ground and zoomed off into the darkness of the forest that surrounded the hunters' camp.

Shadows were already starting to reach out for his attention and a grin played on his face when a loud scream rang out through the night.

"Sounds like Artemis might be upset that I beat her hunters again," Decker said as shadows began to coil around his body. Artemis appeared in a flash of blinding silver light just as the son of Hades disappeared. Her silver eyes seemed to study the spot in where Decker vanished with a strange intent — a quiet gasp sprang forth from her lips when she saw the face of a girl within the shadows. Now she knew exactly how she would get back at Hades for all the grief his son had caused her.

"Bianca di Angelo," she said quietly.

Decker reappeared in the middle of East Prussia in front of a large black building that had Nazi banners hanging on the front. He thought it was best to disappear into the shadows to make sure that if any soldiers were around they wouldn't be able to spot him. Once he was inside the Nazi headquarters he realized that it would probably be in his best interest to change clothes — there was no way he could get around any guards with signed clothes. Thankfully, he found a closet close to the entrance and managed to get himself a fresh black suit. With a nostalgic sigh he pulled the hat down over his head and the red band up on his arm. It was just like old times.

Now that he was properly dressed he could walk around among the soldiers as if he were one of them. He saluted everyone he came across before finally coming to a stop at a room with a large black door that had the word "Fuhrer" plastered across the top. A shadow portal appeared in front of Decker as he pulled out his revolver. His body moved forward and he stepped through the portal without an ounce of hesitation.

A demented man by the name of Adolf sat at his desk filling out paperwork and trying to figure out where he wanted the next air strike to be. The Nazi commanded picked up a glass of water and was about to take a sip until he saw the reflection of a black figure in his glass — he dropped the glass and turned to find there was nothing behind him. Maybe it was his mind playing tricks on him again; after all he had been having visions recently of a man in a black suit telling him to be cautious. He turned back to his work to find the end of a gun being pointed at his head.

"How did you get in here?" the Fuhrer demanded.

Decker didn't respond, he simply placed his finger on the trigger and prepared to pull. However, he never got the chance. Water began spouting out of the ground and began pooling all around Decker's feet — the son of Hades tried to move only to find that the water was holding him in place. Very slowly the liquid began surging upward like a miniature geyser — once he was soaked from head to toe the water spread out around him and formed a huge bubble. A loud growl came from inside the bubble as Decker tried his best to break out of it. Sadly his efforts were all for naught as shadows began swirling around inside the bubble — he let loose one more growl before he vanished.

Adolf Hitler sat with a dazed look on his face. He wasn't exactly sure how to explain what the hell just happened; all he knew is that he would live to see another day. There was something good that came out of his assassination attempt however, and that was the plan to start using the darkness to conceal his soldiers. Adolf stood to his feet, put his cap on, and headed out to tell his soldiers of the new plan of attack with a smirk covering his face.

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